Now I’ve Seen Everything

Of course there's nothing all that unusual about a spy going to work for a Washington thinktank. Ex-CIA employees do it all the time: so do all sorts of other spooks, who would otherwise be haunting the world's darkest corners. No big deal. But what I've never seen,...

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Kafka and Uighurs at Guantánamo

"There is no right to due process for an alien who is not here," insisted the 44th Solicitor General of the United States, Gregory G. Garre, proudly representing the President of the United States, George W. Bush. Garre is a teacher of the law, you see, and...

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Kurds Anxious Over Security Pact

Kurds are divided over a security pact between Iraq and the US, approved by a large majority in the Iraqi Parliament Thursday, in what appears to be a potential heavy blow to their major gains since the US-led invasion of the country in 2003. Despite the international...

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Obama Foreign Policy: Realists to Reign?

Less than two months before taking office, President-elect Barack Obama is making clear that realists – some more identified with Republicans and the military than with Democrats – are likely to rule the incoming administration's foreign policy roost, at...

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JFK Episode Suggests Obama’s Iraq Plan at Risk

The decision by President-elect Barack Obama to keep Robert M. Gates on as defense secretary has touched off a debate over whether Obama can pursue his commitment to rapid withdrawal from Iraq even though Gates has defended George W. Bush's surge policy and opposed...

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Friday: 21 Iraqis Killed, 58 Wounded

Updated at 6:35 p.m. EST, Nov. 28, 2008Thousands of Sadr followers protested the passage of a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement during Friday prayers today, while a bomber targeted one of their mosques in Mussayab. At least 21 Iraqis were killed and 58 more were wounded...

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Seeking Integrity at the CIA

Editor's Note: An underlying factor in the national security crises confronting the United States has been the corruption of the US. intelligence process, with analyses tailored to fit the desires of the policymakers and with laws bent to permit torture and other...

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An Idea Whose Time Has Gone

Rumors in early November that Hillary Clinton would be Barack Obama's Secretary of State have by now been substantiated; the official announcement is thought to be only days away. Other Clinton-era officials, such as Bill Richardson, have been tapped for cabinet...

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The End of Guantánamo

The repatriation from Guantánamo of Salim Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden, to serve out the last month of his sentence for providing material support for terrorism in Yemen, will surely hasten the demise of the prison, as promised by President-elect Barack...

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